The Guardian again: Gaby Hinsliff misses the point

[hackmum]

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/09/transgender-women-labour-shortlists-gender-discrimination

She hasn't understood the point about self-identification - that under the Labour interpretation of the rules, any man will be able to stand on an AWS by virtue of saying "I'm a woman". I'd love to ask Gaby if she thinks Eddie Izzard - who has said he wants to stand on an All Women Shortlist - is a woman. It's not open for comments, unfortunately.

I am usually a lurker but I feel like I’m peaking every day now.

I’m particularly irritated by this from Hinsliff:
“It seems odd, too, to exclude a minority not currently represented in parliament from measures to make it more representative.”

Women are a Majority who are not represented in parliament and AWS are specifically created to rectify this. If some minorities e.g.BAME people, trans identifying people are not currently represented there should be other mechanisms. Why should women have to make room when we are still under-represented? Is it because of gender expectations that we should be nice?

Actually I don’t want to fight someone else’s battles for them, and I don’t feel sorry for trans identifying people and I will not step aside. Maybe my selfishness makes me a man?

In the twitter thread GH says:

“I've never seen a piece of legislation yet that didn't have exemptions for hard cases”

I just don’t think that is how the law works. Life isn’t a feel good christmas film.

I saw the headline and the name of the author and didn't bother to read the article: Hinsliffe has form for throwing women under the bus.

The Guardian is transideology central and cannot die a horrible flaming financial death soon enough.

Looking at that twitter thread, I'm developing a very strong dislike of the argument "but there will be a tiny minority of cases so even if there's a problem, it'll be a tiny one".

On that basis you can excuse just about any outlandish thing.

Why should women have to make room when we are still under-represented?

I agree with this wholeheartedly. Let men give up a few more spots. Why is it always women who have to be nice and budge over?

If you look at her responses on the twitter thread, this is not a case of accidentally missing the point. She's actively trying to undermine the gender critical position using classic TRA tactics. No friend to women, this one, if you remember what she wrote about Cologne.

Obviously their entire approach is enraging, but the fawning over narcissistic men in lipstick and dresses as if they provide some profound insight into womanhood is cringe-making.

The only thing those men provide a profound insight into is how narcissism works, and also fetishism in some cases. I find the fawning over them interesting in that I'd like to know why some women find them so fascinating, and I think if we could answer that question it might help us from a strategy perspective.

It's extreme virtue-signalling by a social justice warrior.

Angry I think some women are incredibly flattered that men want to join their gang.

I say this because I have the uneasy feeling that if all of this was happening say 20/30 years ago I would have been one of those women.

One of the (only) things I like about getting older is being able to see things in a more critical way!

And then Janice Turner arrives into the discussion on twitter:

twitter.com/sarahditum/status/961899466008793088

and in a trice Hinsliff is looking even more evasive.

God I love Janice Turner. What a fabulous, incisive woman she is. Thankful that she’s on the GC side.

JT has just been told by another poster that trans women are born the female gender.

I honestly don’t think GH thinks that you can be born a gender, or that women suffer discrimination because people are recognising their gender, but while it’s fine and almost necessary to be a left wing atheist, for some, belief in in gender is now mandatory.

Oops - misread the sarcasm in the ‘born a gender’ twitter post.

Bloody ell, MARGARET ATWOOD of all people has just retweeted that article!

Janice is wiping the floor with Gaby, honestly.

Eddy izzard comment seems to have disappeared...

I was going to say isn't it brilliant to read someone who can argue so incisively and cut through the crap on Twitter. Brilliant JT.

And then I read the Margaret Atwood post

Since she is in Canada, does she have any clue about what the AWS problem in the Labour party is about?

SoulCistersaif

"The comments are switched off!"

Which is precisely why I stopped reading the Guardian online some time ago.
They never allow comments on issues that they don't want to see discussed freely or when they think their position will get an ass whooping in the comment section.

That is sort of ironic in a section called 'Comment is Free'

Free the comments!

Comment is free… but facts are sacred

LOL

As soon as I read "assigned" at birth I know they just don't get it.

They are biologically illiterate.

Gaby, if men represented you we'd have equal rights by now.

I am kind of gutted that Margaret Atwood has shared this article

Looking at how Hinsliff responded on twitter over her article it's clear she doesn't want to engage with people about its flaws.

It's becoming clearer to me where her notorious Cologne article came from.